Acromyrmex echinatior (Forel 1899)

Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia

Range

Mexico to Panama.

Identification

Median pronotal spines usually absent, occasionally present as low tubercles, never distinct spines; head not tapering behind eyes; head width less than or equal to 3.2mm; propodeal spines carinate, irregularly ridged to tip; distinct pair of short, setose carinae on dorsal face of propodeum anterior to spines; all spines and tubercles generally thin and sharp; color red to yellow-brown.

Natural History

In Costa Rica this species prefers open dry habitats such as urban areas around San Jose and seasonally dry habitats of Guanacaste Province. I have records of the species from Santa Rosa National Park, Palo Verde, San Jose, and as far south as Quepos, but I never collected any Acromyrmex in the wet forest of the Osa Peninsula during extensive collecting there in the 1980's.

On the nature trail near the headquarters of Santa Rosa National Park I once observed workers carrying cut flower parts up a tree, suggesting that nests may occasionally be arboreal.